The Six: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters

The eldest was a razor-sharp novelist of upper-class manners; the second was loved by John Betjeman; the third was a fascist who married Oswald Mosley; the fourth idolized Hitler and shot herself in the head when Britain declared war on Germany; the fifth was a member of the American Communist Party; the sixth became Duchess of Devonshire. They were the Mitford sisters....

The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family

This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; the ethereally beautiful Diana was the most hated woman in England; and Unity Valkyrie, born in Swastika, Alaska, would become obsessed with Adolf Hitler.

Daughter of Empire: My Life as a Mountbatten

Few families can boast of not one but two saints among their ancestors, a great-aunt who was the last tsarina of Russia, a father who was Grace Kelly's pinup, and a grandmother who was not only a princess but could also argue the finer points of naval law. Pamela Mountbatten entered a remarkable family when she was born at the very end of the Roaring Twenties.

The Mistresses of Cliveden: Three Centuries of Scandal, Power, and Intrigue in an English Stately Home

Overlooking the Thames, the Cliveden mansion is flanked by two wings and surrounded by lavish gardens. Throughout its storied history, Cliveden has been a setting for misbehavior, intrigue, and passion - from its salacious, deadly beginnings in the 17th century to the 1960s Profumo affair, the sex scandal that toppled the British government. Now, in this immersive chronicle, the manor's current mistress, Natalie Livingstone, opens the doors to this prominent house and lets the walls do the talking.

Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor

The life of Princess May of Teck is one of the great Cinderella stories in history. From a family of impoverished nobility, she was chosen by Queen Victoria as the bride for her eldest grandson, the scandalous Duke of Clarence, heir to the throne, who died mysteriously before their marriage. Despite this setback, she became queen, mother of two kings, grandmother of the current queen, and a lasting symbol of the majesty of the British throne.

The Hidden Lives of Tudor Women: A Social History

The Tudor period conjures up images of queens and noblewomen in elaborate court dress, of palace intrigue and dramatic politics. But if you were a woman, it was also a time when death during childbirth was rife, when marriage was usually a legal contract, not a matter for love, and the education you could hope to receive was minimal at best. Yet the Tudor century was also dominated by powerful and dynamic women in a way that no era had been before.

Victoria's Daughters

Vicky, Alice, Helena, and Beatrice were historically unique sisters, born to a sovereign who ruled over a quarter of the earth's people and who gave her name to an era: Queen Victoria. Two of these princesses would themselves produce children of immense consequence. All five would curiously come to share many of the social restrictions and familial machinations borne by 19th-century women of less-exulted class.

The Purple Diaries: Mary Astor and the Most Sensational Hollywood Scandal of the 1930s

1936 was a great year for the movie industry - the financial setbacks of the Great Depression were subsiding, so theater attendance was up. Americans everywhere were watching the stars, and few stars shined as brightly as one of America's most enduring screen favorites, Mary Astor. But Astor's personal story wasn't a happy one. Born poor and widowed at 24, Mary Astor had spent years looking for stability when she met and wed Dr. Franklyn Thorpe.

Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt

Written by descendant Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, Fortune's Children traces the dramatic and amazingly colorful history of this great American family, from the rise of industrialist and philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt to the fall of his progeny - wild spendthrifts whose profligacy bankrupted a vast inheritance.

Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill

By Winston Churchill's own admission, victory in the Second World War would have been "impossible without her". Until now, however, the only existing biography of Churchill's wife, Clementine, was written by her daughter. Sonia Purnell finally gives Clementine her due with a deeply researched account that tells her life story, revealing how she was instrumental in softening FDR's initial dislike of her husband and paving the way for Britain's close relationship with America.

English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable

Here at last is a history of England that is designed to entertain as well as inform and that will delight the armchair traveler, the tourist, or just about anyone interested in history. No people have engendered quite so much acclaim or earned so much censure as the English: extolled as the Athenians of modern times, yet hammered for their self-satisfaction and hypocrisy. But their history has been a spectacular one.

Queen Victoria's Granddaughters: 1860-1918

On 6 July 1868, when told of the birth of her seventh granddaughter, Queen Victoria remarked that the news was "a very uninteresting thing for it seems to me to go on like the rabbits in Windsor Park". Her apathy was understandable - this was her 14th grandchild, and, though she had given birth to nine children, she had never been fond of babies, viewing them as "frog-like and rather disgusting...particularly when undressed".

The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century

Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat? Ian Mortimer shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. He sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you to the Middle Ages. The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: evolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail.

Behind Closed Doors

The life of the Duchess of Windsor came to an end in Paris on 24 April 1986. She was almost 90. Many people assumed that she had died years before, since she disappeared from public view for over a decade. Sebastian Faulks wrote in the Sunday Telegraph, ‘She is seen as no more than the star of an old romantic film that most French have forgotten. ’But the world did take note, describing her death as the final curtain on one of the greatest love stories of the twentieth century. Embers of the feud between the British Royal Family and the Windsors in exile were fanned once more....

Prince Charles: The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life

From the New York Times best-selling author of Elizabeth the Queen comes the first major biography of Prince Charles in more than 20 years - perfect for fans of The Crown. Sally Bedell Smith returns once again to the British royal family to give us a new look at Prince Charles, the oldest heir to the throne in more than 300 years.

Game of Crowns: Elizabeth, Camilla, Kate, and the Throne

One has been famous longer than anyone on the planet - a wily stateswoman and an enduring symbol of a fading institution. One is the great-granddaughter of a king's mistress and a celebrated homewrecker who survived a firestorm of scorn to marry her lover and replace her archrival, a beloved 20th-century figure. One is a beautiful commoner, the university-educated daughter of a self-made entrepreneur, a fashion idol, and wife and mother to two future kings.

Jackie's Girl: My Life with the Kennedy Family

In 1964 Kathy McKeon was just 19 years old and newly arrived from Ireland when she was hired as the personal assistant to former first lady Jackie Kennedy. The next 13 years of her life were spent in Jackie's service, during which Kathy not only played a crucial role in raising young Caroline and John Jr. but also had a front-row seat to some of the 20th century's most significant events.

The Glitter and the Gold: The American Duchess - In Her Own Words

Consuelo Vanderbilt was young, beautiful and the heir to a vast family fortune. She was also deeply in love with an American suitor when her mother chose instead for her to fulfill her social ambitions and marry an English Duke. Leaving her life in America, she came to England as the Duchess of Marlborough in 1895 and took up residence in her new home: Blenheim Palace. The ninth Duchess gives unique first-hand insight into life at the very pinnacle of English society in the Edwardian era.

The Housekeeper's Tale: The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House

The Housekeeper's Tale reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Using secret diaries, unpublished letters, and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households.

Black Diamonds: The Downfall of an Aristocratic Dynasty and the Fifty Years That Changed England

When the sixth Earl Fitzwilliam died in 1902, he left behind the second largest estate in 20th-century England, valued at more than three billion dollars in today's money - a lifeline to the tens of thousands of people who worked either in the family's coal mines or on their expansive estate. The earl also left behind four sons, and the family line seemed assured. But was it?

Wigs on the Green

Eugenia Malmains is one of the richest girls in England and an ardent supporter of Captain Jack and the Union Jack shirts; Noel and Jasper are both in search of an heiress (so much easier than trying to work for the money); Poppy and Marjorie are nursing lovelorn hearts; and the beautiful bourgeois Mrs Lace is on the prowl for someone to lighten the boredom of her life.

The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House, 1918-1939

As World War I drew to a close, change reverberated through the halls of England's country homes. As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, the shadows lengthened on the lawns of a thousand stately homes. In The Long Weekend, historian Adrian Tinniswood introduces us to the tumultuous, scandalous, and glamorous history of English country houses during the years between world wars.

Cherringham - A Cosy Crime Series Compilation (Cherringham 1 - 3)

Jack's a retired ex-cop from New York, seeking the simple life in Cherringham. Sarah's a Web designer who's moved back to the village find herself. But their lives are anything but quiet as the two team up to solve Cherringham's criminal mysteries. This compilation contains episodes 1 - 3: MURDER ON THAMES, MYSTERY AT THE MANOR and MURDER BY MOONLIGHT.

Kick: The True Story of JFK's Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth

Encouraged to be "winners" from a young age, Rose and Joe Kennedy's children were the embodiment of ambitious, wholesome Americanism. Yet even within this ebullient group of overachievers, the fourth Kennedy child, the irrepressible Kathleen, stood out. Lively, charismatic, extremely clever, and blessed with graceful athleticism and a sunny disposition, the alluring socialite fondly known as Kick was a firecracker who effortlessly made friends and stole hearts.

Publisher's Summary

Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, is the youngest of the famously witty brood that includes the writers Jessica and Nancy, who wrote when Deborah was born, "How disgusting of the poor darling to go and be a girl." Deborah's effervescent memoir Wait for Me! chronicles her remarkable life, from an eccentric but happy childhood in the Oxfordshire countryside, to tea with Adolf Hitler and her controversially political sister Unity in 1937, to her marriage to the second son of the Duke of Devonshire. Her life would change utterly with his unexpected inheritance of the title and vast estates after the wartime death of his brother, who had married Kick Kennedy, the beloved sister of John F. Kennedy. Her friendship with that family would last through triumph and tragedy.

With its intense warmth and charm, Wait for Me! is a unique portrait of an age and an unprecedented look at the rhythms of life inside one of the great aristocratic families of England. It is irresistible listening and will join the shelf of Mitford classics to delight audiences for years to come.

The Mitford sisters continue to be wondered and written about. Deborah, now 90, is the youngest and only surviving sister of six, The novelist Nancy Mitford, the oldest sister was 16 years old when Deborah was born. Deborah became the Duchess of Devonshire and admittedly not political, especially in relation to her sisters. She writes of them lovingly for the most part as sisters not fascists - Unity and Diana - not communists - Jessica, known as Decca who is the only sister who left England for America and became an acclaimed writer here beginning with the expose of the funeral industry, "The American Way of Death". Deborah is a special person in her own right. She and her husband undertook the remodeling of their fabulous home and developed cottage industries as well, thereby tastefully restoring the home which has become a must-see destination of both English and visiting tourists. She is an honest but kind writer and adds much more perspective to the ongoing curiosity and the large library of tomes about her family. Her husband's government position sent her around the world and she had very many special friendships with notables in art and government. She married the younger Devonshire brother, the older had married Kathleen Kennedy, the sister of JFK and he was in line to become the Duke of Devonshire. He was killed in WWI just a few months after his marriage to "Kick" Kennedy (who died four years later in a plane crash). Deborah and her husband found themselves in a position they had not expected. As a result of these relationships in the family the Devonshires became very close to JFK and other members of the family. Her first hand observations of JFK's inauguration and later his funeral provide a very interesting and sensitive description of those events. As Duchess, she knew and in many cases had lifelong friendships with, includes many English notables of the time which makes the book even more interesting.

I don't read many memoirs, but this one was a real charmer--as is Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. "Debo," the youngest of the famous (infamous?) Mitford sisters, is now 90 years old--and what a life she has lived! Her reflections are surprisingly personal, sometimes a bit sad but often endearing. Debo opens a window onto aristocratic life, which wasn't as easy as we might expect. Despite the Mitfords' status, they struggled to make ends meet through the 1930s and the war years, as did other Britons. Of course, their reduced circumstances were outshone by the whirl of their social set. Tea with Hitler, dancing with the young JFK, trying to pacify grumpy houseguest Evelyn Waugh, chats with Churchill and "Uncle Harold" Macmillan, attending Queen Elizabeth's coronation and Charles and Diana's wedding--the shining names that drop in and out of Wait for Me! are as numerous as drops of rain, and Debo has fascinating stories about each one of them. And, of course, we get the inside scoop on growing up and growing older with Nancy, Jessica, Unity, Diana, and Pamela, each of whom was extraordinary in her own way.

Debo came to writing late in life, her books focused on life at Chatsworth and written to fund the preservation of the great house. Many attribute Chatsworth's survival not only to her personal restoration work but to her savviness in opening the house to the public but to launch ventures such as a gift shop, plant shop, tea room, and even, for a time, a meat market featuring beef and lamb raised on the grounds. The Duchess is astonishingly candid about her 64 years of marriage to Andrew Cavendish, who became duke after his brother died in the war. While they fell in love at first sight, the marriage was not without its trials: several miscarriages, a child who died shortly after birth, and Andrew's struggle with alcoholism. The duchess has had a remarkable life and, thankfully, she has either a remarkable memory as well. Finely read and not to be missed!

I enjoyed Mitford's perspective. She was wry and detached from the dramas of her life and other's lives. Life is tragic, life is joyful, that's how it is, let me recount it to you. People are funny, they have foibles, it's not the end of the world, it's makes life more colorful. Really enjoyed this.

A fairy tale life of the youngest Mitford girl and a wonderful mix of country living mixed with sparkling society events like dinners with royalty and presidents. Was presented with a prize by this lovely lady when I lived in Derbyshire so was delighted to step into her life

I really wish I had enjoyed this more.I'm very interested in the mitford family (i wish audible had a version of the mary lovell biography that wasn't read by an american).

This was challenging…..the parts about her family and childhood were interesting, but it's not particularly well written.It starts bogging down with anecdotes and fleeting interactions about people who were once well known, and now are not. "when biffy came to our house party" etc.Then it veered in to a long account of remodeling the estate - I had to admit defeat.

I am an Anglophile of long standing, but it took me a while -- most of Part 1 -- to warm up to the Duchess and her story. Her tales of childhood painted scenes of privilege that I found off-putting, with little to endear the writer or her very young self to me. Once the narrator got older -- just on the brink of WWII and then into the war -- she became more of a real person, not only because she matured, but because she finally began to see hardship and sorrow, and to experience them, herself. Clearly, once Deborah Mitford had real responsibilities (raising children and running Chatsworth), she rose to them. Flosnik's reading is just fine, except when she attempts an American accent. In general, why bother if you can't do it well? In particular, Flosnik attempts the Kennedy version of the American accent when reading from letters to Mitford written by Jack and Bobby. It's appalling.